The Discovery Channel, or My Trip to New York

I discovered lots of things on this trip of mine from Vladivostok to New York.

I discovered that whoever coined the phrase 'getting there is half the fun' never traveled in Russia. I can also guarantee that he never traveled with two little kids. And he definitely never traveled with two kids in Russia.

I discovered why G-d, in His infinite wisdom, endowed human beings with two arms and two legs. The amazing anatomy of the human body allows tow kids to sit on one lap for nine-and-a-half hour flights, plus extra time for takeoff problems like people smoking in the lavatory, when the airlines NEGLECT TO GIVE YOU A BASSINET, and an exhausted toddler insists on being held.

I discovered that airlines like to give your stroller as the LAST PIECE OF LUGGAGE, maybe because they like watching you struggle with your toddler, baby, and two handbags.

I discovered that, believe it or not, Russians are much nicer to people traveling with babies. They offer to help and hold the baby and push you to the front of the line, unlike Americans who PUSH IN FRONT OF YOU IN LINE while you are holding a baby, a toddlers hand, and wearing a briefcase and handbag.

I discovered that it is not a good idea to lose your passport. And if you do lose it, please don't lose it in Russia. Because you have to have really good connections for the Russians to grant you permission to LEAVE THE COUNTRY on a new passport.

It was that kind of trip. 9.5 hours of flying, then waiting for luggage, going into Moscow for the night, back to the airport in the morning, losing our passports, getting new passports at the embassy, going back to the airport, waiting for the late plane because the stewardesses showed up late, another 9.5 hours of flying. . .

It was the kind of trip that made me think: Remind me why I'm flying to New York. And remind me why I'm flying alone. And finally, remind me why we chose to live in Vladivostok, which sometimes feels like the absolute farthest place on the map.

It's a good thing we will be here for long enough for me to forget exactly how tough the trip was.

I have a mezuzah

At the finish of STARS, Natasha* decided that it was time to get to putting that mezuzah up on her door already; we have been talking about his for weeks, but somehow it never materialized.

On Tuesday, Natasha picked me up and together we drove across town to her apartment. We were greeted by her pet turtles, which really freaked me out because I didn't know that she owned pet turtles. Not that I have anything against turtles. On the contrary, I discovered that turtles are harmless creatures, with ugly heads. They live in a little bucket in her bathroom. I can now dispel the myth of the slow-moving turtle. Boy, did that thing run when it heard me come in.

Natasha lives in a 1 bedroom apartment. Renovated. Beautiful view. Her buffet boasts her recently purchased Jewish library - a chumash, a tehillim, a siddur. In her freezer, she proudly told me, is kosher chicken, which, she has noticed, tastes much better than the non-kosher varieties.

We watched the turtles for a while, talked a bit, and then got down to business.

I pulled out the mezuzah, and she said the blessing. Me measured the door, and placed the mezuzah on the bottom of the top third of the door post, tilting inwards. Our mezuzahs, unfortunately, come with pre-stuck on tape, so there are no banging of nails to make the mezuzah placing ceremony more ceremonious. We pulled off the tape and stuck the mezuzah on.

And that was it.

And that was everything.

When we left the apartment a little while later, Natasha gingerly reached up and gave the mezuzah a kiss.

*not her real name. Names, in this post and most others, have been changed to protect the innocent.

Some odd news. . .

Man steals 40 rubles ($1.7), gets 7 years in prison

A court in the town of Amursk, Khabarovsky region, has sentenced to a seven-year imprisonment a man who broke into an apartment of a pensioner and took from her 40 rubles ($1.7) threatening her with a toy gun, the region’s Prosecutor’s Office said.

The investigation revealed that Alexander Volgin, 31, was heading to a residential house apartment where home-brew alcohol was sold. Wearing a black cap with eye holes and holding a knife and a toy gun, Volgin knocked on the door. An elderly woman opened the door and Volgin rushed into the entrance hall. Soon realizing that he got into the wrong flat, Volgin demanded money from his victim. The woman gave her purse with 40 rubles - everything she had at the moment.

When Volgin was leaving the house he was suddenly caught by his jacket’s collar by another woman who left her apartment on hearing the woman’s cries for help. The woman disarmed the robber taking away his knife and toy gun, and firmly held him by his jacket’s collar until the police arrived.

Volgin had a previous criminal record and was unemployed, the police statement said. The court sentenced him to seven years in a strict regime colony for an armed robbery.

from vladnews.ru

A break for STARS

STARS has officially ended for the year. We had a barbecue party, with lots of good, kosher chicken. In honor of the third of Tammuz, we talked about the Rebbe, watched a video of the Rebbe, wrote letters to the Rebbe. And we took on resolutions for future. Hopefully tomorrow I am going to Natasha's house to put up a mezuza. Everyone bought Chumashim, and some people brought siddurim. Igor wants to know where he can get a 'shulchan aruch?'. They resolved to say Shema nightly before going to sleep. Vladimir admitted that in the beginning he was skeptical about learning an extra 5 hours a week, and came only for the stipend. Now, however, his whole week is focused on STARS, and he will sorely miss it over the summer. He is planning to go to a yeshiva seminar for 2 weeks in August.


To be continued in September. Bigger and better, as always.

A (further) tale of visas

So the latest on our visa situation:

I gave Mendel an ink pen and some blank paper. He scribbled on the paper, and then found a stack of interesting papers to color on. Thank G-d, they were not hard to replace documents, but our passport photos. He didn't color too much, but if you were to be really nit-picky - and the Russians always are - Baila is down to 2 pictures, and I am down to four. We need 5 each.

In other news, Yisroel and Ivan Ivanov (have you noticed that I get a kick out of writing his name?) met today with some fellow high in the previous communist party. They cannot accept our application, as the quota is full, as of July 1. However, if someone's application should be rejected, we are first on the waiting list. We were also given permission to appoint someone with power-of-attorney to hand in our documents in case this happens while we are away. Ivan Ivanov has friends who work on the decisions committee for permanent residency applications. He promised to make sure that a a whole bunch of people are rejected, as soon as possible.

It's always something.

We were all set to leave on Monday.

We have been working on getting our permanent residency, the main benefit being that we would not have to leave the country every THREE MONTHS, for heaven's sake.

We found a fellow who is somewhat involved in the Jewish community, although not Jewish himself. He works in getting permanent residency for people. So this Ivan Ivanov advised us to open a fund. As president and members of this fund, we should be entitled to non-quota visas.

To that end, for the past couple of months, Yisroel, our secretary, and Ivan Ivanov have been working tirelessly organizing documents. We needed 12 separate documents from America. Each one had to be the original, notarized, signed by the country clerk, apostilled, translated, and then the translation had to be notarized. We need a ridiculous amount of information about us and the other people in our fund. And we need all sorts of medical records.

So we spent the past while gathering this information and putting it together. On Wednesday morning, we went to the doctor for all sorts of exams. On Wednesday afternoon, our secretary called the office to find out when to bring in the application, only to find out that their quota is filled, and they are not accepting applications until the end of the year.

We should be entitled to a non-quota status, so Ivan Ivanov is petitioning his friend to accept the application.

But we each need to submit our applications personally. And I am supposed to leave with the kids on Monday.

So today Yisroel went to request an extension for me to remain in the country for another 10 days. He spent hours flopping from office to office, and. . . we're not sure yet. They MAY grant the extension.

And then on Monday we will find out if they will accept our applications.

Will keep you posted.

And a good Shabbos to you too!

Historical background

Yisroel has been researching the history of the Vladivostok Jewish community, and discovered some very interesting things.

The first rabbi in Vladivostok was a Chabad rabbi, Rabbi Meir Ashkenazi. He was originally from some other part of Russia, and was drafted into the army. He served for 5 years, until he was granted an exemption by a doctor. He was released from the army, but couldn't go back, so he came to Vladivostok. He sent for his bride who was patiently waiting for him in his hometown, and he became the rabbi here.

By all accounts, he was a very special man. Russia became embroiled in a war of the Czars vs. the Communists. One day, two Jewish communists came to his home seeking refuge from the government. He insisted on helping them, because, after all, they were Jewish. Later, it became too dangerous for him to stay in Vladivostok, but it was impossible to leave at that point. His wife enlisted the aid of these two Jews, who now held positions of power in the new Communist regime, and they helped him escape.

In it's heyday, the Jewish community consisted of about 3,000 Jews. (It's interesting that today, it is estimated that double that number live here.)

Vladivostok was one of the last places to fall to the Communists, and therefore, had the last functioning Jewish community in all of Russia.

For a while, various countries had armies stationed here, as they were helping the Czarist White Army. In 1923 or 1924, a pogrom was planned against the Jews of Vladivostok. There was a large Jewish community in Harbin, about 300 miles from Vladivostok. The Jews there got in touch with an embassy of a country stationed in Vladivostok, who threatened to take over control of the city if the pogrom was not canceled. The plans for the pogrom were canceled.

When I get to New York and we have proper internet service, I will post some pictures, please G-d.